Sunday, July 21, 2013

Bird on the Worcester wire

By Chet Williamson

Charlie Parker, the Bird in flight

The
legendary Charlie Parker played in Worcester once, officially. Unofficially,
there are tales of Bird jamming with local musicians all over Central New
England. Weeding out fact from the weeds in any part of the saxophonist’s
short and tragic life is like trying to determine your belongings caught up in a tornado.

The only
documented appearance happened at the Worcester Memorial Auditorium on Tuesday,
February 9, 1954. Parker was part of a tour package called The Festival of Modern
American Jazz. The bill also included Stan Kenton, Erroll Garner, Dizzy
Gillespie, June Christy, Candido, and Lee Konitz.

In his
column, “Backstage with James Lee,” the Worcester
Evening Gazette reporter noted, “Al Wilde, promoting the Stan Kenton Jazz
Festival at the Auditorium next Tuesday, sends word Kenton will play no other New England city on this tour. He comes here
from Pennsylvania and pops out the next day for White Plains, NY.

Speaking of Parker on the Kenton tour saxophonist Schildkraut said, "Bird was no goof. He was too active, always on the move, always writing tunes. Even when he seemed to be doing nothing, things were getting done .... I had always followed him musically, and this was brought into sharp focus by an incident where the guys on the the trip once complained that I disturbed their sleep by playing in the middle of the night. I denied it but didn't seem to convince anyone. I asked around till Bird told me it was he."

Standing the tallest, Stan Kenton in a Worcester record store

Although
there are numerous accounts of the Kenton show, in the way of advertisements, previews,
and reviews, there is little mention of Parker in any of the local press.

Stan
Kenton was the headliner and received most of the press. In his column, under
the headline of: Kenton’s Vow finally Fulfilled; Draws Big 2500 to Auditorium,
Lee wrote: “Here’s the big news of the week: Stan Kenton and his orchestra
finally clicked at the box office in Worcester.

Interior of Worcester Memorial Auditorium

“Tuesday
night’s Jazz Festival at the Auditorium drew 2500 customers, a fancy turnout
indeed, and with a top price of $3.50, that gave Stanislaus a substantial gross
and a neat profit. For several years, Stan and his progressive jazz flopped all
over the place when he played Worcester. Those who attended were almost
fanatical in their adoration of the music but, there weren’t anywhere near
enough of them.

Stan Kenton at the piano

“After
one of these dates Stan announced he’d never appear in the city again. Then he
changed his mind and vowed he’d keep coming here until he was successful. Well,
he finally did it. True it was a profitable crowd a few years ago when he came
here with the Big Show, but considering the other big names on the stage that
couldn’t be credited entirely to the band.

“But
Tuesday night it could. Dizzy Gillespie, Erroll Garner, and the rest were
great, but Kenton obviously was the magnet that brought the crowds through the
Auditorium doors.”

In
addition to a review of the show, the intrepid columnist also dished some
behind-the-scenes activities as well. He mentioned that after the concert,
Kenton and his manager George Morte of Milford, singer June Christy (who
appeared at the club the previous month), and a raft of musicians celebrated the
success at the Holiday Club in Leominster. The venue was owned and operated
by Morte and former Kenton saxophonist Boots Mussulli.

George Morte

Mussulli,
who also hailed from Milford, was a close personal friend of
Parker. Stories of Bird playing the CrystalRoom in the Southern Worcester County
town still abound in these parts. It’s also well known that Parker loved Mrs.
Mussulli’s Italian cooking.

Mussulli, Kenton and Leo Curran

Lee also
reported that the entire musical entourage afterwards returned to Worcester to close the El Morocco, which
was famous for its late night revelry. The restaurant, a reported favorite of
Kenton and countless other musicians was owned by the Aboody family.

Speaking
of Aboody, in another feature on the Auditorium show, Lee wrote, “The Worcester
Stan Kenton Club was out in force Tuesday night, led by its officers, Joe Aboody
and Henry Vito. The 60 members occupied two special rows of seats down front,
each one wearing a big badge containing the maestro’s picture. Stan got a kick
out of it.

Joe Aboody at the El

“Kenton
was a pretty happy guy when he left Worcester yesterday afternoon for White Plains, NY. He said he’ll be back here next
season with another Jazz Festival,” Lee said.

The
question is: Where is Bird in this picture? Who did he play with at the show?
Where did he go afterwards? Did he stay in town? Did he have friends here?

Bird in flight in 1954

This is
what we know of Parker’s whereabouts during this time. In most of February in 1954,
he was busy touring with the Festival of Modern American Jazz. The package took
him up and down the east coast from Worcester to Atlanta, parts of the north in the cities
of Toronto, Detroit and Chicago, through the south from Nashville to New Orleans, and out west from Seattle to Los Angeles.

In an
interview with Stan Levey (former Kenton and Parker drummer), he recalls that
Bird was ill at the time. He also notes that the saxophonist played with Dizzy
Gillespie on the tour. See:

Parker
joined the tour on Thursday, January 28, 1954. Just prior to that, he played a
week engagement at the Hi-Hat Club in Boston. Three of the nights were
recorded and have been released in a variety of packaging. A recent reissue by
Blue Note, called, Bird at the Hi-Hat
finds the saxophonist supported by Boston musicians, trumpeter Herbie Williams,
pianist Roland Griffith, bassist Jimmy Woode, and drummer Marquis Foster.

Whether
Bird hired this lineup for his Kenton tour is not known. It should be noted
that there is a private recording of Parker playing with the Kenton band from
the Festival of Modern American Jazz live at Civic Auditorium in Portland, Oregon.

Directly
following the tour, Parker worked with the Joe Rontoni Trio at the Tiffany Club
in Los
Angeles.

So,
again, where was Parker in Worcester? In the liner notes to the Uptown
Records release titled, Charlie Parker Boston 1952, writer Bob Blumenthal
asserts that on February 9, 1954, Bird played at the Knights of
Columbus Hall on Elm Street in Worcester. “Boots Mussulli organized this
Sunday afternoon jazz session that featured Parker’s group (with Joe Gordon)
alternating with Mussulli’s group," he said.

Former Elks Lodge on Elm Street, torn down in the mid-'50s

Trumpeter Joe Gordon

This is
the same day of the Auditorium concert, whether it was before or after the show
is not known. As far as the Knights of Columbus Hall, there was no such
establishment. It could have been the Elks Lodge that was located on Elm Street.

In the
35-page booklet, produced by Dr. Robert Sunenblick, he states Parker worked throughout the Commonwealth including at
least one other time in Worcester. In 1951, Bird did a five-city
tour of the state with the incredible lineup of baritone saxophonist Serge
Chaloff, pianist Nat Pierce, bassist Jack Lawlor and drummer Joe MacDonald.
“Coming off this tour,” Sunenblick said, “Joe MacDonald drove Parker to
Christy’s in Framingham, Mass., where three of the four tracks
issued on The Happy Bird LP on Parker
Records were recorded.”

MacDonald
remembered Wardell Gray coming out to Christy’s with Howard McGee, who was
appearing at the Hi-Hat in Boston with the Oscar Pettiford Sextet.

The tour
was booked by Mussulli and said to have stopped at Storrs, Conn., Northampton, Holyoke, Springfield, and a Worcester show with no information included. There is no record of Charlie Parker's appearance in this city. I spoke to a collection of musicians and jazz fans around at that time, who said if he was here they would have known it. The theory is that the show was cancelled. In Ken Vail's book, Bird's Diary; the Life of Charlie Parker 1945-1955, the author places the saxophonist at Christy's in Framingham on Thursday, April 12, 1951. The day before he had closed at Birdland. The day after, Parker was back in New York playing at the Apollo Theater. However there are open dates scattered throughout the April calender that year, but Vail cites none of the five Massachusetts shows in question.

Dave McKenna

In the
spring of 1952, Parker played at a neighborhood bar called McCann’s at 129 Pleasant Street in Leominster.“Parker appeared here for Sunday afternoon jam session playing his white plastic alto sax,” Blumenthal said. The personnel with Parker were listed as pianist Dave McKenna, bassist Dick Whetmore and drummer Jimmy Wyner.

Both shots of McCann's Cafe by Kastellano's, courtesy of the Leominster Historical Society

Other
local Parker dates include possibly two others at the Cyrstal Room in Milford, possibly in 1952 and '53. The band for at least once of the shows included McKenna and Worcester trumpeter Emil Haddad.

Whether
or not the Charlie Parker appearances in Worcester become fully documented is yet to
be determined. What is certain is the fact that his musical impact was enormous
and enduring. His influence on musicians -- both of his generation and beyond --
continue to be felt in Central New England and around the world. Parker
died one year after the Auditorium appearance on March
12, 1955.
He was 34.

*Note: This is a work in progress. Comments, corrections, and suggestions are always welcome at: walnutharmonicas@gmail.com. Thank you. Please check out my blog on Worcester songwriters at: www.worcestersongs.blogspot.com

Nice Ornithology work Chet! I read somewhere that toward the end of his life, Bird worked clubs in New England partly because he couldn't work in NYC, due to not having a cabaret card (required then for all who worked in clubs serving alcohol).Anyway, what a fascinating historical addition to his discography/bio. Thanks, man.

Bird and Dizzy did both play on this tour, but not together. Bird played an arrangement of Night and Day he had recorded with Mercury, and then two new arrangements, My Funny Valentine and Cherokee, by the brilliant young Kenton arranger Bill Holman. Dizzy had his own features, which tended to go on and on and get a bit silly.